iStock

Most people who are considering whether or not to upload to microstock sites are curious how much money can be made by doing so. (There are other reasons, too, but this is a biggie). The short answer is that it depends on how much time and energy you put into it, and it depends on the quality of your images. The top earners can make hundreds of dollars per day, but most people will not achieve that. For an overview of my experience, see below. I update the stats about once every month or two so you can get a sense of what I have earned -- without devoting a ton of time to it, to be honest.

Stock photography is more popular with designers, businesses, web developers, publishers and artists than ever before, and the number of photographers who have found microstock to be a great source of part- or full-time income has increased steadily in the last few years. A new book, Taking Stock: Make Money in Microstock Creating Photos That Sell by veteran stock photographer Rob Sylvan, provides valuable insights into maximizing profit in this increasingly competitive industry.

There's an interesting thread over at MicrostockGroup regarding how to leave your royalties to your loved ones after you die. Not something you have probably thought about very often! The short form is that your beneficiaries will have to provide relevant legal paperwork to the agencies in order for the accounts to be transferred to them, so if you have a will, make sure to explicitly include the copyrights to your images in it.

I've written a short introductory article for eHow entitled "How to Make Money With Your Digital Camera (Selling Microstock)" -- take a look here. It is a short overview and I'm interested in any feedback you may have -- either to improve this article or for ideas for future articles you may be interested in.

Shutterstock and iStockphoto are now allowing video submissions to sell short video clips to local news stations, documentary producers, and the like. If you can produce video footage that would be useful to these types of projects, it could be well worth your while to upload them to Shutterstock or iStockphoto.

This is a short sample clip I took to submit to Shutterstock. I can imagine local newscasts using this clip in a story about recent Supreme Court proceedings, or documentary filmmakers using it in a commentary about a particular case, and so on.

iStock just announced that they will be selling logos soon. An excerpt from the press release is below, but first here are a few reactions (the reaction from designers is overwhelmingly negative):

Digital Arts

The scheme has provoked furious debate on iStock's forum and elsewhere, as designers have protested at what they see as a cheapening of what can be a complex and in-depth process...Read the full article.